Behind The Beat: DJ Spinz

DJ Spinz on working with Future, creating Ty Dolla $ign's "Blasé," and the collaborative approach of Atlanta producers.

Atlanta has a rich history of rap, but in recent years it's become known for producing a large number of stars and hits through its very supportive, collaborative and creative music scene. While vocalists remain the face of music from the region, its success depends greatly on a network of producers and DJs, many of whom help in the process of finding and developing new talent, and ultimately breaking records and artists.

DJ Spinz is present in both the DJ and production scenes, hosting tapes alongside longtime business partner DJ Scream, as well as constantly creating new sounds with a steady stable of beatmakers such as Southside, Metro Boomin, and Dun Deal. Over the last few years, he's worked with Gucci Mane, Future, Cash Out, 2 Chainz, iLoveMakonnen, and many more, often in the early stages of their careers.

We spoke to Spinz about his entry into the exciting regional scene, some of his biggest production credits, and his creative relationship with some of the city's greatest talents. Click through the galleries to read our conversation.

SHARE PICTURE

Early DJing and first hit with Cash Out

DJ Spinz grew up in Augusta, Georgia, which is where he began his career in music. "I’ve been DJing since I was probably 11 or 12," he said. "I started doing radio back home when I was 16. I did that and then I graduated from high school, and then I moved to Atlanta to go to school up there."

While he had built a good foundation in his hometown, he felt he needed to move on to bigger things. "Augusta, I had just outgrown it, and it was time for me to get to a place where it was actually moving, where’s there’s a live community of what I’m actually interested in," Spinz shared, suggesting that the ATL was simply the next logical step. "It was gonna be L.A. or Florida, but Atlanta was the closest thing on the map for me and I just connected with that movement a little more."

Coincidentally, he arrived in the city just as a new wave of rappers were emerging, allowing him to build relationships with artists who would grow to be some of the biggest stars not only in the South, but nationwide. "When I got up there I linked with DJ Scream, and got into the Hoodrich mix, started releasing stuff with them. Just doing parties around the city, and just growing up in the middle of that era when people were just breaking on the scene like 2 Chainz and Future. I just happened to be in the middle of that."At this point, he began to explore the world of production, landing his very first hit with another transplant, Cash Out, who was originally from Columbus. "It definitely was a turning point," Spinz said of "Cashin Out" which climbed to #34 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Rap Songs chart. "That was at a time that I was still in the clubs and Cash Out was just an artist who was coming to get his music played. We had developed a relationship, and I think that was the second song that we ever recorded. So, it came out of me actually DJing, which is kind of crazy."

Working with Future and producing "Commas"

SHARE PICTURE

When asked about his favorite artist to work with, Spinz' answer was immediate. "Future is always a pleasure," he said. "Anybody who is just organic and authentic. You don’t have to have the biggest name, if we vibe out, it works for me. I’m not into forced connections."

While many Atlanta rappers have been known to have an enviable work ethic, and seem to be able to write rather spontaneously, Spinz assured that Future is a special case. "He's always an on-the-spot type of guy. When he hears something, he’s gonna lay it down immediately." This makes the 56 Nights rapper an ideal collaborator, the producer explained. "You can go back and do what you want to it after that. He’s like press play, press record, I’m ready. He’s an animal like that, so he gives you a good canvas to work with."

Spinz, alongside Southside of 808 Mafia, was behind one of Future's biggest singles to date, "Commas". Not only was the song inescapable for a certain period of time, it also introduced one of the most sought after sounds of 2015 -- a menacing, industrial knock, complimented by a screeching siren-like cry. Strangely enough, the power of the "Commas" instrumental wasn't immediately evident to Spinz.

"I loved the beat, but I wasn’t like... marinating on it. After he did the record it became special to me," he revealed, going on to explain how it all came together.

"Southside pulled up on me the night before, and we knew we had to go in with [Future] the next day," he said. "We made probably five or six beats that night, and he did I think maybe four or five of them and 'Commas' was the first one."

"It was just like another beat in the pack. We LIKED it, you know what I mean?" Spinz recalled, laughing at the fact that he didn't spot its hit potential earlier. "When I listened back, I was like ‘alright I’m gonna play him this one first’, but it just worked out like that."

Besides "Commas," Spinz had a number of other hits in 2015, ranging from Rich Homie Quan's infectiously colorful "Flex," to the gritty party anthem of Ty Dolla Sign's "Blasé".

"Blasé" takes the dark heaviness of "Commas" and pares it down into something even more skeletal and machine-like. It gets it's title from Future's slurred earworm of a hook, which Spinz revealed was the very first part of the song to be recorded.

"It definitely originated from Future," he said. "It was one of the beats in a pack that I made for him a little while ago, and he just ran through it -- did that “press play” shit -- and “Blasé, Blasé” was one of the first things that he said."

Watching Future in the booth, Spinz saw the "Blasé" refrain as more of a warm-up than something that would end up on the final product. "There was another section that he did that I really liked too," he said. "I was sending Ty a pack and I heard it, and there was something about it that made me feel like that Atlanta-West Coast connection would be dope."

Ultimately, it was Dolla $ign's choice to turn Future's intro into a hook, and it came out perfect. "I didn’t actually know Ty was gonna use that portion of it, but he sent it back with Rae Sremmurd on it. I was like 'yo, this shit is… I fuck with it, it’s crazy,' and that was all she wrote."

SHARE PICTURE

The story behind his drop

The producer drop is more important than it's ever been, and Atlanta is well known for coming up with some very memorable tags. From *Young Thug Voice* "Metro Boomin want some more..." to *Skooly Voice* "We got London On Da Track," a drop is a key part of establishing one's identity, as well as taking credit for your work -- it also helps if you can get someone with a great voice to do it for you.

The Spinz tag is definitely among the best out there right now, and he didn't need a rapper to come up with it.

"[Laughs} That’s my little brother when he was like three years old," Spinz nostalgically recalled. "My DJ Drop, it’s like a 7-second long file from like 2000-something. He was just in my room, and I had this cheap-ass mic, and he said my name... I was like “man, that sounded cool!” -- I just recorded it. Then I looked at the end of it, and I saw that he had said something else at the end. He said “cut it up!”. I was like, “Damn, that would sound crazy on my beats”. So I just put it in there, and I’ve been using it ever since."

"Oh man, Those are my friends-- Southside and Metro. That’s the crew, salute," said Spinz of his peers. "We kick it outside of the studio actually. It’s not just a 'we have to be in the studio every time' kind of thing."

Spinz has put in work with both beatmakers, co-producing Future's "Honest" with Metro Boomin, and French Montana's "Moses" with Southside, to name a couple. As I spoke to him, Spinz was just getting ready to write some more music with Southside.

"I’m with Southside now. We out here, we kicking it, we might go in and could up like 4, 5 beats later," he said, explaining his creative process. "It’s just in the moment, it’s not really planned. Somebody might call me and tell me to pull up somewhere, I might just make some shit right there."

Spinz suggested that for the most part, the more people involved in a song, the greater the potential, as long as everyone's in the same headspace. "We love those types of situations, because it increases the creative energy," he said. "If you’ve got a million geniuses in one room, the synergy of that room is gonna be crazy. It’s some shit you don’t run into every day. Having more is always better, it’s more in sync. If everybody’s on the same vibe, then it works that way. If not, then it’s just a bunch of motherfuckers in a room."

These spontaneous sessions mean that Spinz has adapted to a variety of work spaces. "As long as I have two speakers and a laptop, it doesn’t even matter," he declared. "Sometimes it’s just headphones, sometimes it’s a big studio, sometimes it’s a little counter set-up with two speakers. It’s wherever. I don’t really confine myself to one studio. I had a studio before in Atlanta, but I move around a lot now.

The consistent work ethic has resulted in a huge amount of material, to say the least. "We’ve got unlimited songs. UNLIMITED. SONGS. Like a lot [laughs]."

SHARE PICTURE

Next Moves

Still as much a DJ as he is a producer, Spinz has no plans to pursue one avenue over the other. "I like balancing both," he shared. "I still love DJing just as much as I love producing. I still do radio twice a week, shows here and there, and I make beats pretty much every day. I stay active at both of them, try not to make either one of them slack off."

As far as what he's up to next, Spinz is looking to further develop a new crop of talent, as well as keep up the relationships with his current collaborators. "There’s a couple new guys I’ve been working with, but it’s definitely a lot of the same guys," he said. "I’m focused right now on Southside, his Free Agent 3 project is about to come out. Future, obviously, Bankroll Fresh. My R&B/pop side, I’m really fuckin’ with K-Major. I think he’s amazing. I really believe in him. We got a whole lot more coming. That’s really who the spotlight’s on right now... that’s what I’m really, really, really into." We trust him.